AROUND TOWN: In wake of school probe, a primer on grand juries

In Wednesday’s paper, the Journal broke the story that a Cobb County Superior Court Grand Jury had cleared the Cobb School District of any criminal wrongdoing in its purchasing practices. The grand jury, however, noted the district had “a clear pattern” of rewarding some contracts outside of its own procurement guidelines.

But what is a grand jury, and what do these findings mean for the district?

We asked those same questions back in March, when the Journal first reported on the grand jury’s investigation. Marietta attorney Tom Cauthorn, a former judge and state representative, provided some helpful context. In light of the grand jury’s report, Around Town rang Cauthorn again to pick his brain. But first, here’s a recap of what we laid out in the spring:

• Grand juries are distinct from trial juries, which determine guilt or innocence. The job of a grand jury is to examine evidence and determine if there’s probable cause of indictment.
• Grand juries periodically review the operations of government bodies, such as school boards. (For example, the same grand jury that wrote the report on Cobb schools visited the county jail and the tax commissioner’s office.)
• In Cobb, grand juries are summoned for a two-month term of court. (Several grand jury terms looked at the school system — the May/June jurors released the report.)
• Grand juries issue a report once an investigation of a local government body wraps up. Nothing in that report is binding, but the grand jury can make recommendations.
• Between 16 and 23 people serve on grand juries in Georgia. One among them is elected by his or her peers, or chosen by the presiding judge, to serve as “foreperson,” or presiding officer. (The foreperson in this grand jury was Johnnie Green, while the assistant foreperson was Erica Scott.) With some exceptions, any U.S. citizen 18 years or older who has lived in his or her county for at least six months can be summoned to serve as a grand juror.

Cauthorn told us in March that grand jury recommendations should be taken seriously, a point he reiterated this week.

“If you're a local elected official, and the grand jury is critical or offers suggestions, you are very attentive to that … It is not only possible, it's likely, that you will address whatever the criticism is. Because these are your local people speaking to you through the grand jury,” Cauthorn said.

Whether the school district reacts, though, depends on “the personalities and the politics involved,” he added.

The grand jury recommended that policies be modified to require the school board to conduct a peer review of all procurements greater than $20,000 pre-award. It also called for the board to approve, prior to awarding, all procurements greater than $50,000. Under current policy, board approval is required for awards greater than $200,000.

The grand jury even recommended that state legislators consider changing procurement law that makes local school boards “exempt from Georgia procurement law, except for construction contracts.” In essence, jurors said that what the district did isn’t illegal, but perhaps it should be.

Recommendations to state legislators, Cauthorn said, may be wishful thinking.

“Successfully amending long-standing regulatory statutes in Georgia usually involves a lot of work and a lot of persuasion. Because the tendency in the legislative body is to believe, unless shown otherwise, that the regulatory process has been working statewide,” Cauthorn said.

The report, however, is only three pages, and does not go into detail about which procurements were not in line with policies.

“Identifying what procurement you're talking about would be very useful to the school system going forward, and to those who are charged with implementing the procurement processes of the local school system,” Cauthorn said.

The grand jury reported that there is “substantial evidence” that the board “has not been operating as a well-functioning school board.” But it doesn’t get too specific about board dysfunction, either.

“I'm not sure that that's specific enough to get their point across,” Cauthorn said. “Because depending on your political position, as far as individual members of the school board are concerned, you could interpret those two sentences in opposite ways…”

Cauthorn took issue with the grand jury’s recommendation that the board review its Code of Ethics to ensure board members are improving public perception of the board and the district. That’s not what a code of ethics is there for, he said.

“A code of ethics should hold each elected official accountable for the proper representation of their constituents in particular, and the school system in general,” Cauthorn said. “This seems to say that it's important that the school board members, perhaps, subsume genuine policy differences on the altar of preserving public perception of board amity. It's just my personal opinion, I don’t agree with that. These are elected officials elected to provide leadership, and to suggest that it somehow should be unethical for them to publicly disagree is very inappropriate.”

Still, Cauthorn said, officials should do what they can to keep things from getting ugly. Loyal readers will know that’s too often the case at 514 Glover Street.

“That, to me, was the key of effective legislating, was to dialogue with your colleagues, dialogue with those with whom you disagree,” Cauthorn said. “And do so in a fashion where it doesn't foreclose future communication, because you haven't made it personal.”

Cauthorn stressed that grand juries do essential work, and face no easy task. The whole community should appreciate jurors for holding power to account.

“I know it sounds like I'm being critical of the grand jury, I'm really not,” Cauthorn said. “Because their plate is very broad and very wide, of things that they have to look into. And then they have the constant drumbeat of the presentments on the criminal side. … It's a daunting service that average citizens are asked to perform. And I'm not trying to be silly about it — it comes at no small sacrifice by the people that end up serving, because it takes a bunch of their time. People can say ‘Well, they get paid a little per diem for doing it.’ Yeah, well let me tell you what: it takes a lot of time, and a lot of effort.”

THEY DO: It’s wedding bells for former Marietta school board member Randy Weiner this Labor Day weekend. Weiner, who was first elected to the Marietta Board of Education in 2005, and served as its chair on multiple occasions, chose not to run for reelection last year, retiring from the board at year’s end.

Engaged to Realtor Wayne Tubel, Weiner said they will wed Sept. 3 in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, given they’re building a second home there.

It’s not lost on Weiner that same-sex marriage is a fairly new legal right. It was only in June of 2015 that, following the June 26 Supreme Court ruling, Peter Coughlin and Clifton Heckman of Smyrna were the first same-sex couple to be legally wed in Cobb County. Then-Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Steve Schuster married the couple.

“As the chief judge of the Superior Court, which is the highest trial court in Cobb, we decided that we were going to set the tone at the top, that we were going to do it, and we were going to do it nicely and properly,” Schuster said at the time.

A member of the Marietta High School Class of 1985, Weiner, who is the father of two daughters, said when he was growing up, “I never imagined this would be possible.”

So what’s going through his mind?

“Happiness and gratitude really is what’s going through my mind now. I’ve never been happier, and we’re just very excited to get married. I’m happy that times have changed from when I was growing up in the '80s. I’m just happy that times have changed for the better.”

SAN DIEGO SUNSET: Is there a gig more charmed than that of Cobb Chamber of Commerce bigwig?

This October, the titans of industry will head off on their annual “strategic visit” to the “beautiful and innovative city” of San Diego. We’re confident it’s at least one of those.

The chamber will take some 45 individuals — for a fee — to California to talk development, redevelopment, and transportation. Guests will be accommodated at the posh Pendry hotel in the city’s downtown, where rooms in mid-October start at $500 per night.

THIS WAY TO THE LOBBY: Cognia, Georgia’s largest school accreditation body, is hiring.

The firm’s been under fire for the last year since its ill-fated “special review” of the Cobb County School District. State lawmakers have assembled a special committee to examine reforms to the accreditation business. Committee member state Rep. Ginny Ehrart, R-west Cobb, said she wants to put Cognia’s “social agenda” in its review criteria under a magnifying glass. 

Perhaps looking to shore up its presence under the Gold Dome, the firm has a listing up for a “Director of State Relations” — lizard loafers not included.